The latest offering, 7 Worlds Collide: Live at St. James, from the music world's favorite kiwi, Neil Finn, is a mixed bag. With a songwriting catalogue that spans over 20 years -- the 2 albums he wrote for Split Endz, the four complete albums for Crowded House and his two recent solo projects, -- Neil Finn's first live album should be a real musical treat. That it isn't is largely due to the "Friends" which join him on stage. Believe me, it is a very impressive list, and if I had a circle of friends that included ex Smiths guitarist Johnny Marr, Eddie Vedder and half of Radiohead, I am damn sure I'd want them to play a show for me too, however with such completely different musical artists on stage, the set certainly has moments which lack coherence. Vedder does a good job on some of the more rousing Split Endz songs but a number of the other duets definitely fall flat. Most notable are those done with Lisa Germano. With a voice that has the range of Finn's, this female "echo" is at best unnecessary and at times distracting.
The real disappointment comes when Finn looks away from his own catalogue and moves instead to almost karaoke like renditions of songs by some of his guests. The worst of these is his and Johnny Marr's version of Smith's classic "There Is A Light That Will Never Go Out." Any attempt to imitate the distinctive vocals of Morrissey would be dangerous at the best of times, but to have the melodic Finn, whose works and voice lack any of the dagger sharp irony of the former Smiths frontman, belting out lines such as "And if a double decker bus crashes into us, to die by your side, oh what a heavenly way to die" sounds unnatural. 7 World's Collide is worth a listen, but it fails to live up to expectation and leaves the listener frustratingly pondering on what might have been. - Patricia Abbott
